The power of percussive sounds: Elucidating the perceptual importance of temporally varying tones

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Due to technical limitations, early sound producing machines generated simplistic beeps. Curiously, although the sounds in consumer-facing products have advanced considerably, many safety-critical devices still use simplistic beeps. For example, they are ubiquitous in hospitals, where they allow surgeons to keep visual focus on their patients during complex operations, and nurses to monitor multiple beds concurrently. Although these sound alerts can in theory be invaluable, there is growing recognition that current approaches are problematic. For example, concerns about these sounds appear regularly in the Emergency Care Research Institute's "Top 10 Health Technology Hazards" report, and an FDA survey revealed shortcomings in their design contribute to hundreds of patient deaths each year. Although less dire, the continued use of simplistic beeps in auditory perception experiments poses significant problems, as they evoke different perceptual processes than natural sounds. This raises important questions about the generalizability of theories and models derived primarily with simple sounds. My team's expertise in synthesizing complex-yet-controlled stimuli has demonstrated that amplitude envelope (i.e., a sound's "shape" over time) plays a crucial yet widely overlooked role in auditory perception. For example, we have discovered multiple instances in which widely accepted theories and models fail to explain amplitude envelope's effects on fundamental perceptual processes. Recently, we have begun applying insights from our knowledge-driven inquiry to improve medical device sounds. Therefore, my research program's long-term goal of using complex sounds to elucidate previously overlooked perceptual phenomena holds wide-ranging implications-not only for knowledge discovery, but also for updating sounds used by the multibillion-dollar medical device industry. My short-term objectives focus on four areas in which amplitude envelope's importance has been overlooked. Inspired by scientific curiosity, the first two objectives explore amplitude envelope's role in (1) audio-visual integration and (2) timing perception. This provides novel insight into shortcomings of theories and models largely derived and assessed with simplistic beeps. Inspired by real-world challenges, the second two objectives focus on (3) tone detection, and (4) sound annoyance. As medical devices fill hospitals around the world, even small improvements can leverage significant public health gains. Together, these four short-term objectives contribute to my long-term objective of using complex sounds to elucidate previously unrecognized phenomena. Not only will these experiments fill gaps in our knowledge of the auditory system, they will also inform the redesign of sounds in safety-critical devices in hospitals, as well as nuclear power plants, airline cockpits, industrial processing centers, and other high-consequence endeavors important to public health and safety.